MA in Textile Practice. How can archives be used to enhance embroidery practice methodologies ?

Stain of 71 Women.

An archive is an accumulation of historical records , the archive that interested me contained no fabric or object's, only paper documentation spanning from one side of the world to another. I wondered if by investigating and researching specific embroidery stitches could they be used metaphorically. Could embroidery then be used to creative a story by piecing together fragments of data and would the stitch be enough to convey the meaning of the archives ? Or could the embroidery be used for much more complex expression's that hide within archives, one of time, complexity, identity, the stitching of rejected remnants of society?

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Worked in Flowers

Worked in Flowers. All types of flowers were used as an interest for Eighteenth century young ladies, obviously for those of wealth and privilege. Embroidery gave them the opportunity to express an interest in botany working the flowers in silks in running stitch, in The Subversive Stitch by Rozsika Parker , Parker talks about the attitudes that shaped eighteenth century embroidery by looking at Mary Delany's work , Mary's sister described a piece of embroidery in a letter stating "the bottom of the petticoat was worked with twined nasturtiums,ivy,honey suckles,periwinkles,convolvuluses and all sorts of twining flowers". Above I have used my print image of a sleeve and started to embroider using very contemporary flower shapes, I shall continue inter-twining and working into the fabric to see what happens to the humble concept of the sleeve.

Leaves and the Negative Look.

So much more is visible when you look at the detail of this print from the plate, the leaf looks fragile , hand drawn and has a historical botanical feel about it, this was printed on paper , however I think being a textile practitioner I should try this on linen or calico, then I need to see if the body of the leaf changes at all. I have done this in the past with lace and it has been very successful, first printing on cloth and then taking a negative, not only do you get the print of the object but also the weave of the cloth .

Looking Back

MA Work Journal This week has been pretty slow in my studio, life gets in the way and important things need to be addressed. I try not to get frustrated and look at it as a time for reflection. I often take my old work out and see if it could fit or possibly elements of it could fit into me current work. Cyanotype is something I want to develop as I really liked the process during my BA and MA courses. Stitch investigation is something I touched upon when doing my MA, it was important for me to look at stitch as a narrative, expression and feeling. I feel much more investigating and work could be done on this as I only toughed on the usual type of stitch, so many more to investigate and develop. I would like to do this but need to have a different approach and methodology .

Bridget Harris

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